Any entity, organization or the like that has a presence on the Internet may provide a contact page that enables users to initiate contact with the entity, organization or the like. Usually, a link to the contact page may be provided on the entity's website homepage. In most cases, the contact link may be tucked away at one of the four corners of the webpage and users usually need to scroll downwards, upwards, or sideways in order to find the contact link. Additionally, this contact link might be provided on other pages of the website so that the user does not always have to return to the homepage in order to find a link to the contact page. Although users who are familiar with a particular webpage usually know where to find the contact link, finding the contact link may, in many instances, be an arduous task for first-time users of a webpage. On mobile platforms, the contact link might not be provided at all on the entity's mobile homepage because space on a mobile interface is limited. Therefore, users may have to navigate through several mobile webpages before they find the contact link. Finding a contact link at an electronic kiosk or an automated teller machine (ATM) may be even more difficult than finding a contact link on a personal computer or mobile platform. This is because people may visit electronic kiosks or banking ATM centers occasionally and may do so for specific purposes. Therefore, users, especially those who are not computer savvy, might not be able to find the contact link in such an unfamiliar environment especially when time is of the essence as there might be a queue of impatient people who are waiting to use the electronic kiosk or ATM banking center. Moreover, an entity that hosts webpages, mobile webpages, electronic kiosk/ATM applications, etc. might not present a contact link in a consistent manner across all these interfaces. Therefore, a user who has previously accessed the contact link on a webpage might not be able to transfer that knowledge to finding the same contact link on the related mobile webpage. As such, finding the contact link may not be easy even when moving from an entity's web interface to the same entity's mobile interface.
When a user reaches a contact page via a contact link, the user may be provided with a list of several phone-numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, etc. associated with several different divisions, lines of business, tenants or the like, referred to herein as channels of the entity. When so many phone numbers, email addresses, and mailing addresses are presented to a user, it may be difficult for a user to sift through this information to find the desired contact information. The contact page may also list the hours of operation for any listed phone numbers. Some entities may even provide a chat feature to chat with agents of the entity. While some entities may provide several contact phone numbers or email addresses, other entities may provide a single contact number or a single contact email address. When a user calls that single contact number, the user may be redirected to the appropriate channel and an appropriate agent within that channel only after answering several questions that are usually posed by an automated telephone operating system. On most occasions, users may dial the contact number and then just press a ‘0’ in order to talk to an operator so that they do not have to navigate through this long winding and cumbersome redirect process. Recently, as some entities have removed the option of contacting an operator, users may have no choice but to navigate through the long winding automated redirect process before they can reach a human agent.
People usually would like to receive answers to their questions as soon as possible. Entities, organizations and the like, too, would prefer to provide answers as soon as possible. Even a minor delay in providing an answer may mean a lost business opportunity or a current customer who is left dissatisfied. After all, the most successful entities are those that are most responsive to their customers. Thus, entities would like to eliminate or lessen the waiting time associated with establishing contact with a customer.
Contact systems within an entity's call center may also suffer from several inefficiencies. In current call center systems, when an internal agent receives a call from a customer regarding an issue that the agent is incapable of resolving, the agent may determine the type of specialist who may be able to resolve the issue. Then the agent may place a phone call to a specialist agent from a list of phone numbers at the agent's disposal. If the specialist agent does not answer the agent's call, the agent may dial an alternate specialist agent's phone number to determine whether he or she is available to assist. Alternatively, the agent may attempt to contact the specialist agent through other communication options, such as a chat session or the like. Here, too, the agent may wait for a specialist agent's reply and if the specialist agent does not reply, the agent may ping an alternate specialist agent to determine whether he or she is available to assist. Therefore, a customer may be kept waiting until the agent finds an available specialist agent who is best equipped to answer the customer's question and then receives an answer from that specialist agent. The agent may then communicate this answer to the customer. In many instances it may be extremely cumbersome for an agent to initiate contact with a specialist agent, and even a minor delay could leave a customer dissatisfied. Therefore, it is usually a meticulous task for an agent to find the right specialist agent because the agent has to contact several specialist agents in a linear fashion in order to find an available specialist agent.
For all these reasons and others, there is a need for an improved and user-friendly process and system for a customer to initiate contact with the most appropriate channel within an entity, organization or the like. There is also a need for an improved and user-friendly process and system for an internal agent within an entity, organization or the like to initiate contact with other internal agents.